Germs and bacteria can be found everywhere you go, creating the possibility of contracting an infectious disease. Often, these infections are minor and result in a common cold or flu.
However, some diseases are highly contagious and dangerous. This is particularly problematic for anyone who has a compromised immune system.
A perfect example of this is infectious diseases in nursing homes. These establishments are sometimes poorly maintained and this encourages the spread of harmful pathogens. As most residents are elderly, this can cause a serious health complication that may be fatal.
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With this in mind, you need to know what you can do to help limit the spread of infectious diseases. To get you started, we’ll give you a few fantastic tips below.
Cover Your Face
An important step in preventing infection spreading is to cover your face.
Germs and diseases can be exchanged in many ways, but your face is a common culprit. This is where you breathe from, making it the location where you would inhale or exhale a virus.
Many infections are spread through bodily fluids, saliva included. With this in mind, you’ll want to protect yourself against pathogens that might be in the air from other people.
A mask is highly effective for this if it covers both your nose and mouth. It will ensure that you’re only breathing in healthy air by physically filtering out harmful particles.
The flip side of this is that wearing a mask is also necessary to prevent you from spreading an infection. Rather than breathing or sneezing directly into the air, it will be kept in a contained environment and away from others.
Masks can be highly useful tools, but you need to be wearing them correctly. It must be snugly secured to your face so that there isn’t room for particles to travel through. Otherwise, it won’t effectively prevent the spread of an infection.
Avoid Direct Contact
You should also make a point to avoid direct contact with other people.
While a physical tough might be appropriate in some situations like hugging a friend or shaking a colleague’s hand, it will inevitably spread germs and potentially, an infection.
For example, say that you’re sick and experiencing frequent sneezing fits. If you unintentionally sneeze on your hand and forget to wash it later, it’s likely still there hours later. Say that you then go to meet a client.
You shake their hand and this transfers your virus to them. How bad would you feel knowing that you got a client sick? Would they continue working with you?
This may seem drastic, but it shows how easily viruses can spread. Simply being sick makes you a risk to others and creates a good reason for limiting contact.
One of the easiest ways to spread an infection is through physical contact. Because of this, you need to dial down how much you’re touching other people.
Hand Washing
Another crucial tactic is frequent hand washing.
Think about what you do daily and where you go. At a place like your job, everything there has been touched by several employees.
You don’t know if other employees are sanitary or if they’re healthy. Because of this, you don’t want to be picking up their germs and bacteria. Touching objects that others have will cause you to acquire them.
For example, how many people do you think have touched the handle on the fridge at lunch? Are you positive that everyone made sure their hands were clean before they opened the fridge?
The answer is no and you can never be positive how clean your environment is. Considering this, you should be washing your hands often to cleanse yourself of germs that you unavoidably pick up throughout the day.
Wash your hands after touching anything that other people have, too. Also do it before eating, after touching your face, and whenever you finish interacting with others.
Don’t Share Belongings
It’s also helpful to not share belongings with others.
If you and other people can carry germs on your hands, then you better believe that they’re on your possessions.
Take something like your phone. How many times a day do you touch it and interact with it? When was the last time you gave it a good cleaning?
You likely touch it dozens of times per day and haven’t cleaned it in ages, perhaps ever. Making matters worse, you almost surely don’t wash your hands before touching your phone.
This means that you’re transferring germs to your phone from everything else that you’ve been touching. Anything else that you own and interact with frequently will also have bacteria and germs on them.
If a friend were to borrow your phone, then they will acquire your germs and possibly pick up an infection. The inverse of this is also true, meaning that your best choice is to limit how often you’re exchanging belongings with others.
Sanitizing Surroundings
Finally, you’ll want to sanitize your surroundings regularly.
If your work environment is filled with germs and so is everything that you touch, then why would you knowingly continue operating in a dirty environment?
Germs and bacteria are easily spread, but they can also be cleaned. Good cleaning supplies will properly sanitize surfaces and items, killing viruses and making them safe for use.
Preventing the spread of infectious diseases requires defense on multiple fronts, including targeting the germs where they are. This is often on the surfaces that you work at and the objects you use frequently.
Taking the time to make sanitizing a routine task is crucial for limiting the spread of infections. You never know what you or a colleague is carrying and it isn’t worth the risk of finding out first hand!
Closing Thoughts
Infectious disease can be contagious, meaning that they can be spread amongst you and anyone else that you come into contact with. There’s never a need for anyone to get sick, so limiting the spread of infections is a priority.
A few great tactics that support this include covering your face, avoiding direct contact, frequent hand washing, not sharing belongings, and regularly sanitizing your surroundings.
When you focus on how and where diseases spread, it becomes much easier to understand how to fight them. Do your part to keep yourself and everyone else around you safe by limiting the spread of infectious diseases.
